Oboe mouthpiece



June 4, A. Q. BU EN 2,003,576

OBOE MOUTHPIECE Filed March 5, 1931 INVENTOR A O.Bahren' Patented June 4, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 0130B. MOUTHPIECE Alfred G. Buhren, Sacramento, Calif.

Application March 3, 1931, Serial No. 515L736 2 Claims.

This invention directed to improvements in a musical wind instrument of that kind known as the oboe, and specifically relates to the mouth piece used in connection therewith. As is well known to musicians, it is quite difiicult to learn to play the oboe on account of the peculiar nature and. form. of the mouth piece, which as at present constructedis. radically different than that of any other instrument.

oboe cannot switch over to a saxophone, clarinet,

or other similar instruments without practice (orvice-versa) and without fear of spoilingv his embouchere (lip power). This is on account of the great dissimilarity between the oboe mouth piece and those of the other instruments mentioned- Also, a very small percentage of players have the same embouchere, and the small. reeds now employed in oboe mouth pieces must bemade over to suit the embouchere of the individual players.

The principal objects of my invention are to. provide a mouth piece so constructed so that it can be used by clarinet, saxophone, and other players, and vice-versa, without practice and without danger of spoiling" or undergoing any change in their embouchere; one which is always ready to play; one which will not warp; which blows approximately 40% easier; than the present type; one which has excellent tone qualities; which is more substantial than the present type, and which is cheaper both to buy and subsequently keep up.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which,

will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts asv will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. l is a side elevation of my improved mouth piece.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, with the reed removed.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the mouth piece.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the body reinforcing plate, detached.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing, the mouth piece comprises a body, the numeral I, molded of hard rubber or similar material. This body Also, a musician playing the.

about cylindrical at one end, on one side i formed with a fiat surface and extends from end to end of the body. On its opposite side body toward one end is formed with a flattened face which tapers almost to a junction with the 5 face 2 and the outer end or tip of the mouth piece, which is the lip engaging end of the same.

A. thin metal plate 4 of silver or the like secured on the surface 2 from end to end, so as to reinforce the body and prevent warping of the same. 10 This plate is provided toward its outer end with a longitudinal slot S whose side edges converge toward the rear end of the slot 6 as plainly shown. Said surface 2. and the plate are not level from end to end, however, but toward the outer or lip engaging end are bent toward the face 3 so as to form a small acute angle with the remainder of the plate as indicated at 5.

A cavity 6 is formed in the body towards its tip which is open to the slot in the plate 4 throughout the area of said slot 4, and forms an air chamber, the particular shape of which will be described later.

A reed l, which is flat and straight from end to end on its under side, and is substantially the same area as the plate 4, rests on the latter and is secured thereto by a suitable clamp 8 disposed about the body and reed beyond chamber 6. The reed covers the open side of the chamber 6 as will be evident. The slope of the plate 4 at the tip end of the mouth piece provides the necessary space between the reed and mouth piece as will be evident.

The air chamber extends from adjacent the tip back a certain distance and is nearly the full width of the body at its'tip end, but tapers thence to a termination which is relatively narrow, conforming to the taper of the plate slot.

The chamber is deepest at its back end, and its bottom slopes thence upwardly to the plate 4 at the outer end of the slot, as shown in Fig. 3.

The side walls of the chamber slope inwardly toward each other, as shown in Fig. 4. The back end of the body is provided with a centrally disposed cylindrical cork extension 9, which forms a joint, by which connection is made with the oboe A. A relatively small conduit l0 extends from the outer end of the extension to the back end of chamber 6, which conduit tapers inwardly from its outer to its inner end in conformity with the taper of the bore of the instrument. The bottom of the chamber is substantially in longitudinal alinement with the bottom of the conduit, as shown, so that said bottom substantially follows the alinement of the lower reed usually employed, and the conventional and desired shape or arrangement of the air chamber relative to the conduit is therefore maintained. The diameter of the conduit at its inner end is preferably less than half the width of the chamber 6 at its outer end, so that while the height of the outer end slit is small, as is desirable, the cross sectional area of the same as a whole is approximately as great as that of the adjacent end of the conduit.

Theside andbottomwalls of the air chamber are out so that they merge smoothly into the adjacent end of the conduit, and the cross sectional area of the chamber at any point in its length is designed so as to be not less than that of the conduit, or equivalent to the area had between the two concavely disposed reeds of the usual oboe mouth piece.

In other words, proper compensation has been made for the decrease in area which would otherwise be had inthe mouth piece outwardly of the conduit by the use of the single flat reed instead of the two curved reeds now used.

The advantages of this construction in comparison with the ordinary oboe mouth piece are many. In the ordinary mouth piece the tapered conduit is bare at its small end and forms the supporting means for the opposed reeds which engage and substantially follow the curvature of the same, and are secured thereto by winding silk thread or the like thereabouts. The reeds consequently must be quite flexible and somewhat delicate, and must be carefully handled and accurately whittled to provide the proper included area necessary to give the best results. They cost from $1.00 to $1.75 per pair, and on account of their extreme delicacy, it is quite easy to split or warp them, which, of course, necessitates their being replaced.

The reed for my mouth piece on the other hand is relatively large and rigid, and can be readily made from discarded saxaphone or clarinet reeds, so as to be sold at 10 cents each. Also, when necessary to replace a reed it is a matter of less than a minute to do so. The replacement of the present type of reed, however, is a tedious and delicate operation, as is well appreciated by the users of this instrument.

Perhaps the greatest advantage, however, with my mouth piece lies in the fact that the air chamber area necessary to produce the best results is calculated and permanently incorporated in the larger mouth piece body at the factory without leaving it to the individual player to obtain this area by trial and experiment.

My mouth piece, therefore, is ready to use as soon as the reed is mounted, which requires no special skill. Also, the space between the reed and the mouth piece is predetermined and always the same, since it does not depend upon the proper slope being given to the reed.

The proper tone qualities are, therefore, insured with no creation or squeaks, the circulation is better, and the strain on the lips of the player is less. Also, since the mouth piece is of the same general form as that employed in the other instruments above mentioned, an oboe player may readily switch to one of these other instruments, or vice-versa, without any practice being necessary, and without any change in his embouchere.

From the forego ng description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A month piece for wind instruments of the oboe type comprising a lead-off conduit adapted to removably fit into the body of the instrument, a body projecting from one end of the conduit, achamber formed in the body ahead of and communicating with the conduit, said chamber at its junction with the conduit being of substantially the same cross sectional area as the conduit, the top and bottom of the chamber converging toward each other to the outer end of the chamber from such junction point and the side walls of the chamber diverging from such junction point to the outer end of the chamber; the bottom wall of the chamber at its outer end being substantially flat and being disposed in a plane substantially in longitudinal alinement with the bottom of the conduit, and a single reed forming the top wall of the chamber and mounted on the body rearwardly of the chamber.

2..A mouth piece for wind instruments of the oboe type comprising a lead on conduit adapted to removably fit into the body of the instrument, a body projecting from one end of the conduit, a chamber formed in the body ahead of and communicating with the conduit, and a single reed mounted on the body and formnig the top wall of the chamber; the side walls of the chamber diverging from the conduit and the top and bottom walls of said chamber converging toward each other from said conduit in such relationship that the cross sectional area of the chamber at any point in its length is substantially equal to the cross sectional area of the adjacent end of the conduit.

ALFRED O.-BUHREN. 

